1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a slot-in type disc drive device in which a disc such as CD (Compact Disc) or DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) is conveyed directly in a cabinet without using a tray. More particularly, the present invention relates to a disc drive device capable of chucking (holding) a disc appropriately, even when the disc is re-conveyed (reload) to a chucking position inside the cabinet while an ejecting operation of a disc interrupts halfway.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a disc conveyance system in a disc drive device, in addition to a tray conveyance system conveying a disc in a cabinet while putting the disc on a tray, a slot-in system is known where the disc is directly conveyed in the cabinet without using the tray.
In the slot-in system, for instance, the disc is conveyed in the cabinet under the condition that a rubber roller for disc conveyance is pressed against one single side of the disc, and in the thickness direction of the disc, the disc is sandwiched between the rubber roller and a synthetic resin plate fixed in place. However, when performing reproduction of recording information while turning the disc which is conveyed up to a fixed position (chucking position) inside the cabinet, since it is not possible to turn the disc under the condition that the rubber roller comes into pressure-contact with the disc, the rubber roller is provided movably in the direction spaced apart from the disc inside the cabinet, and is spring-energized in the direction coming into pressure-contact with the disc. For this reason, when the disc is reached to a chucking position, the rubber roller is separated from the disc.
A mechanism separating the rubber roller from the disc is disclosed in the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H10 (1998)-31855. In this mechanism, a slide plate is provided inside the cabinet. The slide plate has a rack, and is capable of being moved in the direction in which the rubber roller conveys the disc. When the disc is conveyed to the position just before a chucking position, a pinion which rotates in synchronization with the rotation of the rubber roller, engages with the rack of the slide plate, and the slide plate starts to move. When the slide plate moves, a slope-like cam contour part formed on the slide plate presses a cam driven element protruded from the rubber roller side. By the press, the rubber roller moves in the direction separated from the disc.
However, in this mechanism, in the process where the disc is ejected from the cabinet, when a loading operation (reload operation) of the disc is performed while the ejecting operation of the disc is interrupted caused by missoperation of user, interrupted to prevent an opening and closing operation of the front panel, or interrupted to prevent fall of the disc, there is possibility that a chucking operation of the disc starts before the disc reaches the chucking position, so that the disc damages.
That is, in the process of ejecting the disc from the cabinet, there is no problem if the reload operation of the disc starts after the slide plate moves in the direction ejecting the disc until the pinion rotating in synchronization with the rotation of the rubber roller becomes not engaged with the rack on the slide plate. On the other hand, in the process of ejecting the disc from the cabinet, when the reload operation of the disc starts before the pinion becomes not engaged with the rack, at that time point, since the rubber roller starts to come into contact with one single surface side of the disc while chucking of the disc is released, the disc becomes moved to an aperture side (ejecting direction) of the cabinet to a certain extent. In this state, the slide plate is immediately moved in the direction opposed to the direction ejecting the disc. Therefore, the rubber roller becomes separated from the disc with the condition that the disc is not conveyed sufficiently to the chucking position, as a result, the chucking defect is caused.